The Arizona sentinel., 1887-10-22
AN INTEREST IN LIFE.
How Existence Can Be Made Attractive
 in Spite of DiscOuragements.


 in Spite of DiscOuragements.
 Half the illnesses and more than half the unhappiness in life come from the want of some active outside inter- est-something to take the person out of himself; chiefly though out of her self; and give her things to think of beyond her own sensations-things to sympathize with beyond her own vague disappointments and shadowy desires. The spiritual barreness of egotism and of idleness makes life a very desert where no green thing flourishes, which no dew from Heaven rcfreshes, nor living water rejoices. Self-centered and uninterested, life to such an one is but poor entertainment for the senses; and the deeper emotions and affections have no share therein. The order of the day, with all its necessary circum- stances of food, and gradual wear ing of the morning through the noon to evening, and the sleep. which is only the continuation of the lethargy of the waking hours-is one long round of weariness and dissatisfaction. Like withered boughs which bear no roses, not an hour has its moment of delight, not an action has its hope of joy or fulfillment of pleasure. The dull day creeps sluggishly from dawn to close, and not a new thought has been awakened nor a new sensation aroused. Marion in the "Moated Grange" was not more dreary than the man or woman who has no outside interest, and whose life is bound up in self; and no prisoner ever hailed the free air of Heaven with more rapturOus gratitude than would such an one if set in the way to make that interest and enlarge those boundaries. For we must never forget that many things which look like faults, and pass under the name of faults. are in reality misfortunes- the result of conditions made for us and not by us, and not to be broken by such energy as we possess.
 In this one word indeed lies the heart of the matter. With energy we make an interest for ourselves, in spite of the poverty of our circumstances. Without it, opportunities of rich en- joyment pass by unutilized, and we let slip all chances for bettering our fate. It is a misfortune to be born one of the passive, the negative. un- energetic. who divide the world with the active and energetic. Most things in life that are worth having at all have to be sought and pursued, if they are to be captured and held fast Neither fortune nor pleasure knocks consistently at any mans door, but each has to be at the least looked for up and down the street, and invited in if it is desired to entertain either. But the unenergetic take no pains 10 find these radiant guests. If they do not come unbidden they do not come at all; and the flowers and gems borne by the sluggish steam on it's bosom are left to drift into the great ocean of things now impossible, because of the want of en- ergy to seize them as they passed. The energetic, on the contrary, are of those who improve their holding. No mat ter how poor the soil-how unpropi- tious the surroundings-they know whence to gather rich material and fertile seed for the better harvest and the heavier crop. If they are of those whose circum- stances preclude the need of exer- ton, they make some extraneous in- terest for which they have to work and think, and in manner sacrifice their comforts, and break up the deadly monotony of their self-indulgence- that monotony which kills the finer nature when indulged in without a break, and which makes the very misery of the rich.
 ] No matter what the interest so long as we make one for ourselves. From art to religion, and from philanthropy : 10 needle work, all is useful, if some forms are purer and nobler than others. Many people do very bad art paint pictures that are caricatures; sing in voices to which tin kettles are as silver bells; write books, innocent of the very elements of composition but all the same they have an interest which has lifted them out of the dead 1 lY dullness of the past. If they have no higher vocation, and their powers are not capable of attaining greater results, it is better for them to use them on these lower levels than not at all; and the world benefits, at least in so far. that they are thereby rendered happier-with the consequent result of greater happiness radiated on to others If they are well endowed they do good work in itself, and the world is the richer by the achievement - ChtcGQo Standard